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Modernization with IBM WebSphere eXtended
Transaction Runtime
IBM Redbooks Solution Guide
IBM® WebSphere® eXtended Transaction Runtime (WXTR) is a distributed online transaction processing
(OLTP) environment to host COBOL and C applications with IBM WebSphere Application Server on
AIX®. It enables modernization and extension of business applications that are written in COBOL and C
into a Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) environment and helps to realize the benefits of a tightly
integrated managed environment. WXTR provides basic runtime connectivity between Java EE
applications and COBOL and C applications, which eases the integration required for composite
applications in an enterprise environment. Through tight integration with the system management
capability of WebSphere Application Server, you can achieve easy deployment, administration, and
optimization of services, increasing administration efficiency for managing mixed language transactional
applications. Figure 1 summarizes the benefits of WXTR.
Figure 1. Benefits of WXTR
Modernization with IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime
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Did you know?
Many clients have invested much time and effort in the development of business logic in COBOL and C
applications. They realize that the value of those applications can be unlocked and extended by using
Java EE. By establishing WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime as a core component of an
enterprise IT architecture, alongside WebSphere Application Server, an organization can have a highly
responsive, tightly integrated composite application-serving infrastructure for modern COBOL, C, and
Java workloads. This solution provides the ability to effectively optimize and modernize these COBOL and
C assets, in addition to capitalizing on enterprise-wide skills to consolidate IT infrastructure around
WebSphere Application Server as the core hosting server in a distributed environment.
Business value
The major benefits of a WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime solution are in two broad areas:


A tightly integrated managed environment
Integrated application development
WXTR includes functions that together provide a tightly integrated, managed environment to host Java, C,
and COBOL applications, particularly applications based on IBM CICS®, under the same WebSphere
Application Server instance, effectively allowing them to be treated as a single application. For example, a
Java application that is in WebSphere Application Server can access a C or COBOL application in WXTR
as an extension of a Java application or as a web service. WXTR provides support for CICS data
management facilities such as files and queues stored in an IBM DB2® database. In addition, WXTR
provides a common administration facility to manage both COBOL and C assets and Java EE assets
within the WebSphere Application Server administration console. As a benefit, administration personnel
have a reduced learning curve and can easily and efficiently deploy, administer, and optimize services.
IBM Rational® Developer for Power Systems™, with WXTR, provides a modern application development
experience across Java EE applications and COBOL and C applications. Developers can use it to
perform operations such as developing, deploying, and debugging applications within a single integrated
development environment (IDE), improving productivity.
Deployment of WXTR with WebSphere Application Server provides enterprise-class scalability to
composite applications. With WXTR and WebSphere Application Server as the core of a serving
infrastructure, existing assets can be retained and extended in a modern, hybrid application environment.
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Solution overview
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime provides an execution environment for hosting COBOL and C
business applications within IBM WebSphere Application Server. It offers a tightly integrated and
managed environment for hosting Java EE applications and modern COBOL and C applications with
interoperability between the workloads of each application. WXTR provides basic runtime connectivity
with standard interfaces between Java EE applications and COBOL and C applications, which
significantly eases integration in an enterprise environment. Java applications can connect and invoke C
or COBOL applications through standard connection interfaces that are based on Java EE Connector
Architecture (JCA) or Service Component Architecture (SCA). WXTR also offers a unique system
management capability that is tightly integrated with WebSphere Application Server. This feature enables
easy deployment, administration, and optimization of services. It also significantly increases efficiency for
managing mixed-language transactional applications.
As an extension to WebSphere Application Server, WXTR provides a unified environment to host,
manage, and maintain composite transactional applications that consist of COBOL, C, and Java
components. Even composite applications with two-phase commit transactions and mixed-language
components can be easily deployed and maintained within WXTR and WebSphere Application Server.
Security context, transaction context, and data can be seamlessly shared across the composite
applications for improved architectural flexibility.
Deployment of WXTR with WebSphere Application Server provides enterprise-class scalability to
composite applications. With WXTR and WebSphere Application Server as the core of a serving
infrastructure, existing assets can be retained and extended in a modern, hybrid application environment
(Figure 2).
Figure 2. Hybrid application environment
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Solution architecture
As shown in Figure 3, the two major components, which are the run times for WebSphere Application
Server and WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime, exist separately but are joined with an adapter.
The WebSphere run time runs on a Java virtual machine (JVM), where the WXTR run time is a collection
of native operating system processes. The WXTR run time runs COBOL and C applications, and the
WebSphere run time runs Java EE applications.
Figure 3. WXTR architecture, which is a tightly integrated, managed environment for Java and COBOL
applications
Both run times run on the AIX platform. The WXTR run time needs to connect to a DB2 database or
Oracle database that can reside in the same machine as WXTR or in a remote machine.
The different functions that WXTR supports can be classified into the following categories:

Tightly integrated managed environment
WXTR includes functions that, together, provide a tightly integrated, managed environment to host
Java, C, and COBOL applications under the same WebSphere Application Server instance. A Java
application that is in WebSphere Application Server can access a C or COBOL application in WXTR
by using the JCA interface or the SCA interface. Application errors that arise within the C or COBOL
executable are propagated to the Java application as Java exceptions and are handled accordingly.
User data is passed among Java, C, and COBOL applications by using COMMAREA in a character
format. Popular IDEs, such as Rational Developer for Power Systems, provide a binding feature to
simplify this mapping process.

Data management
WXTR provides support for CICS data management facilities such as files and queues that are stored
in a DB2 database. It supports record-level locking on fixed-length and variable-length records, and
allows Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM)-style access to the data that is stored in DB2. WXTR
also supports temporary storage and transient data queues. The temporary storage queues are for
shared reading, writing, and updating of data by multiple transactions. The transient data queue
service provides a generalized queuing facility for internal or external processing. Selected data that
is specified in the application program can be routed to or from predefined symbolic destinations.
These extra partition destinations are queues that can reside on any system resource and can be
accessed by programs within and across regions. Any system file can be processed sequentially with
WXTR transient data.
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
Unified system administration
WXTR works in a two-in-one mode by using a highly optimized local adapter. The WebSphere run
time handles the Java EE applications, and the WXTR run time handles the COBOL and C
applications. With the unified system administration, the COBOL and Java EE assets can be
managed within the WebSphere Application Server administrative console. This feature reduces the
learning curve for administrative personnel and allows them to easily and efficiently deploy,
administer, and optimize services. Administrators can view and modify the WXTR service properties
by using the WXTR administration panel in the WebSphere administrative console or by using
WebSphere administration scripts. The unified administration allows for the creation of user groups
with predefined privileges to run certain administrative tasks, reducing the dependence on
administrative personnel and improving overall productivity. WXTR also enables nonroot users to
perform a predefined set of administrative tasks without having root user privileges.

Integrated application development and debugging
Rational Developer for Power Systems, with WXTR, can provide a productive application
development experience across Java EE and COBOL applications. By using this combination, you
can develop, deploy, and debug applications within a single IDE to improve productivity. Application
developers can step into and inspect a COBOL program from a Java EE application. Similarly, data
exchange between COBOL and Java EE applications can be achieved by using the IBM CICS IMS™
Java Data Binding feature of Rational Application Developer.
Usage scenarios
A WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime solution is realized in various deployment scenarios
(illustrated in Figure 4) and is supported by tooling options to assist with these deployment configurations.
Figure 4. Types of WXTR workloads
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WXTR is suitable for the following cases:

Existing distributed COBOL and C workloads
By using WXTR, customers can retain their existing COBOL and C assets when they consolidate the
infrastructure around WebSphere Application Server. The assets can be brought into an enterprise
service-oriented architecture (SOA) environment by using the JCA or SCA interfaces in WXTR. The
assets can then connect through an enterprise service bus to interoperate with workloads in
WebSphere Process Server, WebSphere MQ, WebSphere Message Broker, or any other product that
supports native MQ transport.

Transaction processing workloads (COBOL and C) that are not from IBM
By using WXTR, customers who are currently running transaction processing solutions (not from IBM)
can modernize their COBOL and C assets and center their future IT infrastructure around WebSphere
Application Server, creating an agile, flexible, SOA-centric application infrastructure.

Existing COBOL and C workloads running on IBM TXSeries
Existing TXSeries customers who have COBOL or C workloads extended to WebSphere Application
Server can benefit from the tighter connectivity of Java workloads within WXTR. This feature enables
smoother and easier integration of COBOL and C assets into the SOA environment and improved
management of mixed-language applications. The unified system management between WXTR and
WebSphere Application Server makes it easy for administrators to deploy, administer, and manage
COBOL and C assets within WebSphere Application Server, resulting in improved efficiency.

IBM System z® workloads that are moving to distributed platforms
CICS Transaction Server and WebSphere Application Server for IBM z/OS® are the premium hosting
environments for modern COBOL and C applications that are extended to Java EE. For customers
who do not require the benefits of the System z platform and who want to continue investing in
application modernization, WXTR provides a distributed alternative.
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Topology scenarios
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime can be deployed across one or more servers to meet
business and user expectations. Because WXTR exists as a container in WebSphere Application Server,
its deployment patterns depend on how WebSphere Application Server is deployed. WebSphere
Application Server, in turn, supports many deployments, from a single, stand-alone server to more
complex deployments that consist of clusters of application servers that are spread across physical
systems.
A WXTR deployment with a single individual (or stand-alone) WebSphere Application Server (Figure 5)
can be created by using any WebSphere Application Server product that is supported by WXTR. This
configuration is commonly set up as a development or test environment.
Figure 5. Single (or stand-alone) server topology
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A more typical business deployment consists of multiple application servers that are managed under a
single deployment manager as shown in Figure 6. The application servers can be grouped on the same
system (vertically clustered) or across different systems (horizontally clustered). Managing a group of
servers under one deployment manager requires WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment.
Figure 6. Horizontal cluster topology
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Application interfacing scenarios
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime supports the following interfacing scenarios:

Execution of C or COBOL applications as extensions of Java EE applications by using JCA
WXTR provides JCA Common Client Interface (CCI) APIs to interact with CICS COBOL programs
and data from Java EE programs. Java application developers can use the WXTR-supplied
com.ibm.wxtr and com.ibm.wxtr.utils packages to create connections to and interact with
CICS C or COBOL applications. Figure 7 shows an example of interfacing with a COBOL application.
Figure 7. JCA interface for Java applications
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
Execution of C or COBOL applications as web services by using SCA
SCA provides a model for creating applications that follow SOA principles. WXTR exposes an SCA
service, called WXTRService, with an SCA component, called WXTRService Component. Figure 8
illustrates an example of invoking a COBOL program that is deployed in WXTR.
Figure 8. SCA interface for Java applications
Integration
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime works with the following IBM products to provide and
enhance the application modernization process:

WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment
WXTR is compatible with and extends either one of these application server options.

Rational Developer for Power Systems
Rational Developer for Power Systems provides a modern IDE on which COBOL and C applications
can be developed. WXTR provides Java code templates for calling COBOL and C programs. It also
provides makefile templates for building COBOL and C programs (CICS style) in Rational Developer
for Power Systems. Also, you can use Rational Developer for Power Systems to debug Java EE
applications, even as far as stepping into a COBOL program to provide an end-to-end debugging
experience. COBOL and C applications developed in Rational Developer for Power Systems are
automatically deployed to WXTR, similar to how Java EE applications are deployed automatically to
WebSphere Application Server from Rational Application Developer or Rational Developer for Power
Systems.
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
Rational Application Developer
The Rational Application Developer IDE provides the Importer component from the CICS IMS Java
Data Binding feature that enables application developers to share mixed-type data across Java EE
and COBOL or C environments. By using the Importer, you can import existing COBOL or C
programs and generate metadata information about data structures (such as a COMMAREA in a
CICS COBOL or C program) to the Java data binding tool through a process of data type
transformation. The Importer maps data types in source files to a corresponding data type that can be
accessed in a Java application, which provides a convenient and easy way to transfer data between
Java EE and COBOL or C applications.

WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime Feature Pack for modernizing Oracle Tuxedo
Applications
This feature pack allows for the migration of Oracle WebLogic COBOL and C applications to
WebSphere Application Server to be hosted natively by using WXTR, with minimal changes. The
provided runtime environment provides a mapping of functionality between Tuxedo and WXTR,
simplifying application migration. The Migration Assist tool, which is also provided, aids in simplifying
the entire process of migration, including application profiling to identify sections that might benefit
from changes and application deployment.

WebSphere Application Server Migration Toolkit
This suite of tools is packaged as a feature (a collection of plug-ins) that can be installed in IBM
Rational Application Developer, IBM Rational Software Architect, or Eclipse IDE, which simplifies the
process of migrating to WebSphere Application Server V7 or V8 from a previous version of
WebSphere Application Server or from other application servers such as Oracle WebLogic Server,
Oracle Application Server, and JBOSS Application Server. These tools analyze code to identify
application elements that should be updated to ensure optimal compatibility and performance.

DB2
WXTR provides support for files and queues that are stored in a DB2 database. It also allows VSAM
style access to stored data.

COBOL for AIX, which is required for COBOL applications
Supported platforms
WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime is compatible with any IBM System p® hardware that can run
IBM AIX V6.1 or V7.1.
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Ordering information
The WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime product is available only through IBM Passport
Advantage®. It is not available for shrink wrap.



License function title: IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime
Product group: IBM Transaction Server
Product category: Transaction Server
Table 1 provides ordering information for WTXR.
Table1. Ordering part numbers and feature codes
Program name
PID
number
Charge unit description
IBM WebSphere eXtended
Transaction Runtime
5725-C89
Per Processor Value Unit
IBM WebSphere eXtended
Transaction Runtime
5725-C89
Per Processor Value Unit for zEnterprise® BladeCenter® Extension
Related information
For more information, see the following documents:

IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime Sales Manual
http://ibm.co/TXIxps

IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime V2.1 Announcement letter
http://ibm.co/I8n7No

WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime product page
http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/extended-transaction-runtime

IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime V2.1 Download Document
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24032807

Modernization with IBM WebSphere eXtended Transaction Runtime, REDP-4818
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/REDP4818.html
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This document was created or updated on November 13, 2012.
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